Water consumption demand of winter wheat remains uncertain in humid region of East China. A better prediction of water consumption can improve agricultural water management. Based on the evapotranspiration (ET) data determined by large-weighted lysimeter and the meteorological data during 2011–2018, the actual ET of winter wheat was compared with the ET simulated by Priestley-Taylor (PT), Penman-Monteith (PM) and FAO-56 single crop coefficient (Kc) models, and the relationships between ET of winter wheat and its driving environmental factors were assessed to localize the model’s parameters. The results showed that the seasonal variations of ET in winter wheat could be divided into three stages with the canopy development, i.e., Stage I: from sowing to wintering when hourly ET maintained a low level (0.03–0.35 mm/h); Stage II: from revival to dough when hourly ET increased rapidly to 0.60–1.50 mm/h during daytime; Stage III: the ripening stage with hourly ET decreasing to 0.01–1.00 mm/h. The ET of winter wheat was mainly determined by wind speed at Stage I and by net solar radiation (Rn) at Stage II and III by Besides primary determining factor net radiation at the whole season, vapor pressure deficit and air temperature was the second factor that dominated ET at Stages I-II and Stage III, respectively. The PM model performed excellently for hourly ET modelling at Stage II with R2 of 0.944 during 2017–2018. All models did not perform well at Stage I and III on hourly time scale. PM model was the best among the three models for calculating daily ET at Stage II, while both PM and PT models could be used to simulate daily ET at Stage III. After local parameterization, the calibrated PTx and Kcx models were validated with daily ET simulation with the coefficients of 1.52 and 1.25 at Stage I, 1.81 and 1.80 at Stage II, and 1.12 and 0.78 at Stage III, respectively. The PTx model was suitable to calculate daily ET at Stage I and III with R2 of 0.19 and 0.55, MAE of 0.39 and 0.88 mm/d, GPI of 0.59 and 2.93, respectively, while Kcx model was the best model at Stage II, with R2 of 0.86, MAE of 0.74 mm/d and GPI of 0.22. Moreover, the PTx at Stage I, Kcx at Stage II, and PTx at Stage III appeared to give reasonable results in evaluating seasonal ET of winter wheat, with values of 53.8, 375.8 and 21.0 mm at Stage I, II and III in 2017–2018, respectively. Total ET suggested that the main water management period should be Stage II. The results can improve the simulation of seasonal ET and may be used as a benchmark for water management of winter wheat in East China.